by Roni Adams
She pulled up the driveway and stopped in front of the house. “You need a ride back to your truck?”
Cole gazed at her steadily. “Why don’t you come in and have a drink, first.”
She wasn’t in the mood to sit around and was about to tell him so when Doc appeared at the side of the truck.
“Well now look who’s here? I recognize the face, but the name escapes me. What was it again? Sally? No, um, Samantha, no that’s not it?” He rubbed his chin as if he was confused then opened her door, giving her no choice but to step out.
Sara reached out and kissed his cheek. “Very funny, Doc. I had dinner with you guys just a few weeks ago, don’t act like I’ve abandoned you.”
Doc slipped his arm around her shoulders and, before she knew it, she was in their kitchen with a cold glass of sweet tea in front of her and a plate of cookies in the middle of the table.
“Those look like Flo’s cookies.”
“She’s a good woman—always thinks of us poor bachelors when she’s baking.”
Sara rolled her eyes at Doc’s ‘poor us’ routine. She frowned though as he winced and awkwardly sat in the old wooden kitchen chairs. It was more than obvious his arthritis was getting worse. “Are you taking those pills they gave you?”
Doc waved his hand and brushed off her concern. “I’ll be fine once that sister of yours gets home and I can take a nice long vacation.”
Sara drank her tea and decided she wasn’t going to tell Doc about Tyler. He would be absolutely livid. Beth was the daughter he never had, and she didn’t want to upset him. Plus, she couldn’t risk him saying something to Beth if her sister happened to call her mentor.
She glanced to Cole who reached for the cookies. “What are you going to do about the truck?”
He drained his tea and poured more from the pitcher on the table. “I’ll take some tools up later and fix it, get it back here. Then I’ll decide what I want to do with it.”
The phone on the kitchen wall rang and he got up and answered it.
“That’ll be the Murphy place.” Doc was already getting up from the table when Cole confirmed who was on the phone.
“Murphy’s prize mare is about to foal and you’d think he was the daddy the way he’s worried about her.” Doc ambled over to the phone.
Sara drained her tea. She needed to get going but Cole settled his hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, you got a minute? I’d love to show you something in the barn?”
Her first instinct was to say she had to get going but, then again, go where?
“I’m heading over to the Murphy’s,” Doc announced, hanging up the phone and grabbing his hat off the hook. “Not sure when I’ll get back.”
“Okay, Pop. Drive careful.”
“Good seeing you, Sara. Don’t be so scarce,” he ordered, pointing a finger.
She nodded then followed Cole out the back door.
The darker barn was cool compared to the noonday sun, and Sara waited for her eyes to adjust before heading down the main aisle. Cole’s barn was even smaller than her smallest barn, but it was clean and dry and she knew these were probably the most cared for horses in the county.
He patted the muzzle of several of them as he passed their stalls. “Wanna help me get these guys outside?”
“Sure.” She opened the stall nearest her. As the horse moved out, she lightly took hold of his leather bridle, but it was more a precaution than anything else. Cole’s horses knew where they were going and were excited to get there. Back and forth, they worked until all the horses but one were penned in the corral outside.
“So is this the one you wanted to show me?” Sara stood with her hands on her hips looking at the stall Cole hadn’t opened yet.
He smiled and held out his hand. She took it and he led her down the barn aisle. “Look who I finally got.”
He dropped her hand and opened a stall. Standing quietly, not restless, was the most beautiful stallion Sara had ever seen. He was as black as licorice candy and stood at least seventeen hands high. His eyes were bright and clear and he held his head as if he knew he was better than anyone else.
“Black Satin,” she whispered. Cole had been trying to buy this particular horse from his owner for well over a year. Sara reached her hand out to test the horse’s reaction. When he responded as gently as she suspected he would, she stepped inside and let him nuzzle her as she stroked his head. Her expert hands moved down his chest and felt the muscles quiver beneath her touch. She smiled. “He’s magnificent.”
The horse had a reputation for being a gentle giant, which she knew was exactly why Cole wanted him.
Cole leaned against the stall. “He’s a beauty.”
Sara nodded. “He’s perfect.” She continued to stroke him and found herself mesmerized by his sheer power combined with the gentleness she saw in his eyes. “You had to have paid a fortune.”
She walked out of the stall and the stallion followed, but Cole shut his half door. The horse pushed his head out looking for her.
“He’s worth every dime, and I would have paid double.”
Sara laughed as the horse looked so pathetic at her. She walked back and rubbed his nose again. “He’s going to make some amazing babies.”
The mention of the word baby, made Sara’s stomach knot up. For a few minutes, she’d completely forgotten about her current situation.
She followed Cole back up the aisle of the barn. They stood in the doorway, the cooler air behind them, the bright sunshine ahead of them. Cole leaned against the door jam and Sara did the same. When she glanced up, he was staring down.
“So, when are you going to break down and tell me where you were going like a bat out of hell?”
Sara lifted one eyebrow as her mind whirled. She stared into the sunshine. “Why didn’t you and I ever become, you know, you and I?”
He laughed awkwardly. “Because no matter how much we enjoy each other’s company, we’re friends and we know that’s all it’ll ever be.”
Sara squinted. “Why is that? What is it that makes two people connect beyond friendship and yet others don’t?”
“I sure as heck don’t know. If life made sense, I would have married you years ago.”
She snorted in disbelief.
“I have to believe it has something to do with chemistry. At least, that’s what all the movies tell us.”
Sara shuffled her feet. Chemistry? Was that all it was between her and Buck? Was it just chemistry? Could she find the same with Cord? Was it something you could force?
“Okay, something’s up.” Cole pulled up two bales of hay, sat on one and patted the one next to him. “You got something eatin’ at you. Might as well spill your guts to me, I’m here.”
For a long second, she eyed the impromptu seat speculatively. Cole had known her since she was a kid. She knew whatever she told him, he wouldn’t share with anyone, not even his father if she asked him not to.
She slumped down to the hay bale. “When Daddy died, he left this stipulation in his Will. I didn’t find out about it until a few weeks ago.” She clasped her hands together and looked out over the Pritchard yard. A barn cat sunned herself on the concrete pad in front of them and pretty soon another followed. The armadillo wandered on by and she smiled. “Why do you still have that thing wandering around?”
Cole grinned. “He’s one of the family now. I think he thinks he’s a cat.”
Sure enough, the armadillo followed the two barn cats as they chased a butterfly around in the sun.
“Damnedest thing,” she muttered. “Anyway, Jackson showed up about a month ago, told Cord and I about this stipulation in the Will. Basically, Daddy left control of the Double B to Cord.”
Cole didn’t say anything, but she glanced at his face. His eyes were wide with disbelief. That’s what she loved about Cole, he just let her talk without injecting his own opinion at every sentence. “There was a loophole. It said that if I married Cord, and stayed married for fifteen years, I’d
be his equal partner, we’d rule fifty-fifty.”
Cole let his breath out on a low whistle.
“You know how I feel about the ranch.”
He nodded and leaned back on his hay bale.
“So, Cord and I talked and we decided we’d consider it. Cord is willing to marry me because it’s what my father wanted. He has this sense of obligation to repay Daddy for all that he did for the boys after their folks died. Plus, he thinks that if we were married, neither of us would have to worry about an outsider coming along and getting their hands on any piece of the controlling portion of the family business.” Sara jerked her head to the side at his snort. “What?”
He leaned forward and looped his hands together, letting them hang loose between his wide spread legs. “You’re fooling yourself if you think that the only reason Cord would marry you is for the ranch.”
“What other reason would there be?”
“You always sell yourself short. Look at you, any man would be lucky to have you as their wife, their partner.”
She laughed out loud. “Yeah, I’m a real catch. This is me remember, not my sisters? I usually smell like horses, I’m filthy half the time and I’ve got grease and dirt under the little bit of fingernails I have left. I have more calluses than some of my ranch hands...and I can’t even cook a steak.”
Cole stared at her intently. “You’re independent, you’re strong, you stand your ground, and you would fight for your family and friends no matter what. You never did think you were as pretty as your sisters, but you are a very beautiful and smart woman. Cord isn’t stupid. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And I have to think only a small portion has to do with his feelings towards your father.”
Sara bit her lip. She didn’t believe him, not really. Cord had never given any indication he found her physically attractive, and the very thought of anything physical with him sent chills up her spine—and not in a nice tingly way. She shook off the thought. But, since they were on this conversation, he might as well have it all. “I slept with Buck.”
“I know.”
She frowned. “What? How do you know?” She flung out her hands. “That figures. This damn town, everyone knows everyone’s business.”
Cole shrugged “I’ve seen you and Buck together for years, there’s always been something there but it was beneath the surface, subtle. I knew the day might come when the two of you woke up and realized what was in front of you. I think everyone knows that. But the other night, anyone seeing you together could easily see everything had changed.”
Sara remembered the scene in the LoneStar but she hadn’t been aware that Cole had witnessed it.
“I didn’t come over and do anything because I figured, frankly, it was about time the two of you came to your senses and realized you were nuts about each other.”
Sara shook her head. “It’s so freakin’ complicated.”
“Love usually is, or so I’ve heard.” He shrugged. “But what do I know?”
She blew her breath out and leaned forward. “So, I’ve got Cord offering me everything I ever thought I wanted—what I’ve worked my entire life for—but I have to be married to him and he’s not just talking on paper.”
“That’s understandable. Cord wants heirs.”
“Yep, and Buck thinks that I slept with him because I was sowing some wild oats or some stupid thing.”
Cole winked. “Jeez, if you needed to do that, you could have called me.”
Sara glared at him. “I didn’t sleep with Buck for that reason...well maybe at first. I was curious, you know? There was this thing, this chemistry I suppose, happening and I decided I needed to find out what that was about before I could make a decision about Cord.”
“Once you’d been with Buck, did you even once think you could still marry Cord?”
She shook her head and poked her finger into the hay. “No. Definitely not...but then we had this big fight.”
Cole shrugged. “Everyone fights, you’ll work it out.”
“No, you don’t understand. It was a really big fight. I mean, if he honestly believes that I would sleep with him and still marry his brother, then he doesn’t know me at all. Not to mention that if things worked out with Buck, for whatever reason, I’d lose the ranch.”
“You wouldn’t lose the ranch. You’d only lose the control of the ranch.”
“Same thing to me.”
“Nope, it’s a very different thing. You’re the Boss Lady of the Double B. No one is going to question that no matter what it says on paper. You’ve earned the title and are firmly established in that role. Once your father died, everyone knew that Cord might control some of the purse strings, but you controlled what happened out there.” He indicated the horizon with a sweep of his hand. “You are respected—and liked. There are very few cowboys around who wouldn’t give their best saddle for the chance to work under you.”
“You’re exaggerating. I know more than one who wouldn’t want to step foot back on our property.”
“Any employer is going to have that happen, man or woman. It doesn’t matter. But I’m telling you that you are as respected, if not more so, than your father was, and no one doubts your ability to run the ranch. It won’t make a fig of difference who holds controlling interest of the Double B.”
“But it means that Cord could do whatever he wants, make whatever decision he wants and none of the rest of us could do a damn thing about it.”
“Give me a break, Sara. When was the last time you didn’t have anything to say about something that you didn’t like? You, or your sisters for that matter. This isn’t Gone with the Wind—no one is going to take Tara from you Scarlet, stop dramatizing this. Your pride is stung because Beau didn’t leave you what you felt you deserved. I can buy that, but don’t sell yourself to Cord just to get what you think he should have given you.”
Sara slammed her lips shut. While it stung to hear what Cole was saying, a part of her understood the truth.
Cole shifted and turned to face her. His hand fell to her knee and squeezed. “Look at me.”
She did, his soft brown eyes full of compassion.
“Take the Will out of the equation. Forget about all that for the moment. Would you want to be with Buck? Maybe even have a future with him?”
Tears welled in her eyes and her lip trembled. She tried to blink but couldn’t fast enough.
“Damn.” Roughly he pulled her to him and rested her head on his chest and stroked her hair. “Come on, I hate seeing you do this to yourself. You and Buck go together like peanut butter and jelly. There’s no way you can separate the two. You just gotta get your head around this whole control thing. Hell, honey. Do you really think you can marry a man you don’t love, sleep with him and stand by his side for the next fifteen years, all the while wishing he was his brother?”
Sara pushed away from his chest, scrubbed at her eyes and sniffed. “Yeah, okay, I get it. But even if I don’t marry Cord, that doesn’t change the fact that Buck slept with me to make sure I wouldn’t.”
“So what?”
Her mouth dropped open as she turned shocked eyes on him.
“Did you ever think he might have been desperate enough to do anything to keep you from making the worse mistake of your life? If he slept with you merely to make sure you didn’t marry Cord and had no intention of it being the start of anything, that would be different. Seems to me, though, Buck knew the time had come for desperate measures, even at the risk of getting certain body parts physically maimed.”
Sara chuckled. Maybe Cole was right. Buck may have started it with that one kiss, but she’s taken it to the next level. That much was true. It wasn’t like he’d seduce her.
“Hell, Sara, if I was in love with you the way Buck is, I would’ve pulled out all the stops. Slept with you, bribed you, seduced you, even try to get you pregnant if I thought it would stop you from marrying Cord.”
Sara blanched at his words. Her hand slammed onto her stomach as her guts clenched. “
Oh my God.”
“Oh hell, I didn’t mean it that way, I really didn’t.” Cole’s face revealed his shock. “Didn’t you use protection?”
Sara sprang to her feet, her whole body quivering with rage. “That’s why he did this! He wanted to get me pregnant. All his talk about me not thinking about protection, that was his plan all along. I’m going to kill him!”
Cole stood up and reached for her, but she spun away.
“Sara, listen to me.”
She stormed out of the barn and across the yard. All she could think about was how fast she could get home, and if both of her hands would fit around Buck’s thick neck. How long did it take to kill a person with your bare hands? Well, she’d be sure to make it drag out as long as she could and cause him as much pain as possible.
“Damn it, Sara! Listen to me for one second.”
She stopped and glanced back, but her mind was whirling. A hot branding iron might work to serve her point too.
“Don’t condemn the man for loving you enough to do whatever he had to do to keep you from making a horrible mistake.”
She snorted. “If he loved me, he would have let me make up my own mind.”
“Yeah, and what if you made the wrong decision? How was he going to live the rest of his life with you married to his brother?”
The sun was scorching hot and sweat broke out on her forehead. Sara brushed her hair back. “If you love someone you want them to be happy.”
Cole reached her side. “That’s right, and maybe he knew you well enough to know that marrying Cord was going to make you miserable.”
“Would you have done that, Cole? Would you have done what Buck did?”
Cole laughed and reached out his hand to cup her cheek. “I wouldn’t have been brave enough to endure that wrath of yours, but yeah, I would have done all that and more. Sara, I wouldn’t have come back from Houston until I had my own ring on your finger.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sara drove like a mad woman back to the ranch. She still wasn’t any clearer on what she was going to do, but she was determined that before she went to bed tonight she was going to have some answers. Buck was not going to force her to make this decision. It was up to her to plan her own future. If she chose to marry—or not marry—Cord, it wasn’t anyone else’s business. Even if what Cole said was true, that Buck was desperate enough to try to change her mind, sleeping with her for that reason wasn’t right. Getting her pregnant was an even worse ploy. He should have left her alone to make up her own mind. Nobody understood how much this ranch meant to her. No one, not even Buck. As she passed under the Double B arches she looked up. This was her legacy. This was what she was born to do, take her place as head of the Sampson half of the Double B Cattle Operation.